Key West Internat. Airport 



Miami Internat. Airport 



Ft. Myers Page Field 



YEAR 



76 5.5 99 164 102 



70 5.9 73 173 119 



447 



5.3 103 151 101 21 



(1) Percent of possible sunshine 



(2) Mean sky cover sunrise to sunset (tenths) 



(3) Mean number of days, sunrise to sunset to be clear 



(4) Mean number of days, sunrise to sunset to be partly cloudy 



(5) Mean number of days, sunrise to sunset to be cloudy 



(6) Mean number of days with heavy fog (* = trace) 



(7) Average daily solar radiation in langleys 



Table 7. Solar radiation and related climatological data for Key West, 

 Miami, and Ft. Myers first order weather stations (adapted 

 from USDC 1981a, 1981b, 1981c). 



inland areas. This quality is most 

 apparent in the dry season months 

 (November through April), during 

 which the highest number of clear 

 days are reported for all three sta- 

 tions. The number of days of heavy 

 fog increases from south to north, 

 and from east to west. During the 

 dry season the fog is usually an 

 early morning or late night phenome- 

 non which generally dissipates or 

 thins soon after sunrise (USDC 

 1981a, 1981b, 1981c). Heavy daytime 

 fog is seldom observed in south 

 Florida (Bradley 1972). The mean 

 annual total hours of sunshine for 



the basin ranges from approximately 

 3000 hours inland to nearly 3300 

 hours at Key West (Dames and Moore 

 1978). 



3.7 HURRICANES 



Warzeski (1976) divides the 

 climatic conditions of south Florida 

 into three energy levels or intensi- 

 ties. These are: (1) prevailing 

 mild southeast and east winds; (2) 

 winter cold fronts; and (3) tropical 

 storms and hurricanes. The first 

 two were previously discussed in 

 the sections on wind and rainfall. 



38 



